My 26 Subverted Paintings That I Find At Garage Sales And Charity Shops

Aside from my usual work as a graphic designer and illustrator I get a thrill out of taking found art from garage sales and charity shops and putting it into a totally new and unexpected context. There is always something in the expression of the eyes of an original portrait or a strangely empty area in an oil painting composition that cries out for something outlandish for me to add.

I take particular pleasure in finding the most innocuous, mundane and innocent settings and turning them on their head with as simpler an idea that I can think of. There are some things I feel quite guilty about destroying: the portrait of a loved pet, an antique photo of a favorite aunt, someone’s painfully detailed watercolor rendition of their adored home or garden, all waiting to have a sudden alien invasion or a giant fried egg cruelly added by me.

I mostly work on the computer these days so it is great to get my hands dirty and have something you can ultimately hang on the wall—as long as you don’t recognize the original as some of your earlier work!

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#1 Snowy Meep Meep

#2 A Very English Invasion

#3 Magnificent Beasts

#4 Sunny Side Up

#5 Seek And You Shall Find

#6 Ghosts

#7 The Very Nerve

#8 Duck Pond

#9 Nothing To See Here, Constable

#10 Richmond Hill Squid

#11 Oops

#12 Is Nothing Sacred

#13 My Beat

#14 A Victorian Curiosity

#15 Photo Opportunity

#16 Marble Hill Midsummer

#17 New Hat

#18 Looking Toward Eel Pie

#19 Love Story

#20 Ham

#21 I Died And Went To Heaven

#22 Whatever Happened To Montagu Watson

#23 Keeler Bed Head

#24 Venus

#25 Heavenly Bridge

#26 Not Convinced